Prevalence Of Review Studies Published In Rehabilitation Journals During The Last Decade

OBJECTIVE: To compare the number of review papers published in rehabilitation journals during recent years with the number published a decade ago. METHODS: PubMed search for review papers published in 7 major rehabilitation journals in 20052007 and 2015-2017. RESULTS: Of the 940 review papers identified, 659 were published in 2015-2017, and 281 in 2005-2007. Two journals: Disability and Rehabilitation and Archives of PM&R published over half of all the reviews. Over the last decade, the design of reviews has changed substantially, with an increase in the number of meta-analyses (from 2.5% in 2005 to 44% in 2017) and in the number of reviews conducted solely on randomized controlled studies (from 6% in 2005 to 32% in 2017). CONCLUSION: PRM training schemes must adjust to the change in published research to enable understanding and interpretation of the results and conclusions of systematic reviews and quantitative analyses.